Michael Kilian, a veteran Chicago Tribune
columnist who also wrote mystery novels, nonfiction on public affairs and
the Dick Tracy comic strip, died Wednesday after a long illness. He was
66.

The Toledo, Ohio, native spent nearly 40 years
at the Tribune and wrote more than 6,000 articles on subjects ranging from
politics and military affairs to show business, the arts and the niceties
of "high society."

Kilian's wife, Pamela, said her husband suffered
a serious liver ailment about a year ago but continued working until very
recently.

Kilian, who attended several colleges but never
graduated, broke into journalism through the City News Bureau of Chicago
in the mid-1960s. He covered presidential campaigns for the Tribune beginning
in 1968, and went to Washington in 1977, writing a column for the newspaper
that often was laced with satirical humor.

"Writing humor is one of the most difficult
things any writer can do," said former Tribune managing editor F. Richard
Ciccone, who co-authored a book with Kilian. "He used to pull it off quite
successfully."

Kilian was regarded as one of the Tribune's
most versatile writers, equally at home covering a
Pentagon briefing as he was a White House state dinner or a drama opening.

Kilian's 24 books reflected his wide interests.
They included mysteries set during the Civil War and the 1920s, as well
as novels about terrorism and presidential intrigue. He also co-authored
nonfiction books about the movers and shakers in Chicago and Washington
and a well-received critique about the defense establishment.

Cartoonist Dick Locher, Kilian's collaborator
on the Dick Tracy strip, said his colleague wanted to do everything in
journalism. "He'd take a task and run with it," Locher said. "He loved
it. He immersed himself."

Kilian was the son of a Chicago television
pioneer, Fred Kilian, and radio actress Laura Leslie.

A U.S. Army veteran who served in South Korea
during the early 1960s, Kilian will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
Michael Kilian1939-2005

Michael Kilian, an award-winning reporter
and columnist for the Chicago Tribune who wrote 24 books and the Dick Tracy
comic strip during a long and colorful career, died Wednesday after a long
illness. He was 66.

During nearly 40 years at the Tribune, Mr.
Kilian wrote more than 6,000 articles on a broad range of subjects that
included politics, military affairs, the environment, history and show
business. He was one of the paper's most versatile writers, equally at
home covering a Pentagon briefing as he was at a White House state dinner.

Mr. Kilian was an old-fashioned reporter who
got his start at the City News Bureau of Chicago and joined the Tribune
when it was a Republican bastion that often called the shots in party matters.
Yet he adapted as the newspaper modernized and shed its partisan past,
and he became one of its most prolific writers, covering a remarkable range
of events from presidential campaigns to theater openings.

Tribune Managing Editor James O'Shea called
Mr. Kilian "a consummate journalist and author, prolific, professional
and courageous. ... He always lent an ear to someone experiencing the frustrations
common to our craft. He was a source of inspiration to many who read his
columns, articles and books."

His books also reflected his wide interests.
They included Civil War mysteries and novels about the Cold War, terrorism
and presidential intrigue. He also co-authored non-fiction books about
the movers and shakers in Chicago and Washington and a well-received critique
about the defense establishment with Tribune staff reporter James Coates.

Cartoonist Dick Locher, Mr. Kilian's collaborator
on the Dick Tracy strip, said his colleague wanted to do everything in
journalism. "He'd take a task and run with it," Locher said. "He loved
it. He immersed himself."

Mr. Kilian covered presidential campaigns beginning
in 1968 and came to Washington in 1977, writing a column for the newspaper
that was often laced with satirical humor.

"Writing humor is one of the most difficult
things any writer can do," said former Tribune Managing Editor F. Richard
Ciccone, who also co-authored a book with Mr. Kilian. "He used to pull
it off quite successfully."

Mr. Kilian won the United Press International's
humor writing award in 1971. Later in his career, he provided coverage
of the first lady, particularly as it related to the arts in Washington.

Told of Mr. Kilian's death, former First Lady
Barbara Bush said in a statement: "George and I were so very sorry to hear
the news of Michael's passing. Our friendship went back to the early days
in New Hampshire, and Michael was one of those reporters who made those
long, grueling days out on the campaign trail fun."

Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Ill.) remembered Mr. Kilian
fondly when Hyde was a member of the Illinois legislature. "Mike was essentially
conservative, and that was rare," Hyde said. "But Mike was balanced, and
had a wry sense of humor."

His writing flair won him awards, including
a Tribune Jones-Beck writing award in 1986 for his coverage of the Caroline
Kennedy-Edward Schlossberg and Maria Shriver-Arnold Schwarzenegger weddings
and Prince Charles' visit to the U.S.

He was a stickler for the socially correct,
not only in dress but also in status. He studied the Social Register and
was conversant about the Union League Club, and he wrote a series of Jazz
Age mysteries lionizing the Roaring Twenties.

On a piled-high desk there were reports on
military and environmental issues and autographed pictures of actresses,
along with invitations to big parties. One such invitation was for a 1989
garden party for Queen Elizabeth II's birthday at the British Embassy.

At times he would come to work wearing white
sailing slacks, a straw hat and a comfortable shirt with an ascot, reflecting
a more formal era, and he would regale listeners with stories about the
CIA he had picked up from his companions.

When the remnants of Hurricane Isabel hit the
capital two years ago, Mr. Kilian showed up for work wearing jodhpurs and
rubber boots, announcing to his boss, "Capt. Kilian reporting for duty."

Drafted into the U.S. Army in 1963, he served
with occupational forces in Korea and began his journalism career in 1965.

Tribune reporter Bill Mullen said Mr. Kilian
often critiqued the work of other reporters, who sometimes resented it,
until they realized he usually was correct. But Mr. Kilian was so bad at
poker that other reporters would send a taxi to summon him to late-night
games. "He liked to play and he always had money," Mullen said.

He never finished college, though he attended
the New School of Social Research and the University of Maryland. Born
in Toledo, Ohio, he was the son of Chicago TV pioneer Fred Kilian and radio
actress Laura Leslie.

He considered himself an authority on the Civil
War, the American Revolution and on Ireland, particularly its troubles
in Northern Ireland.

Mr. Kilian fell ill with a liver ailment more
than a year ago yet continued to work until recently. He is survived by
his wife, Pamela, and two sons, Eric, 27, and Colin, 24, and his stepmother,
Sara. He will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery with a memorial
service planned on November 19, 2005.
Michael Kilian; Author, 'Dick Tracy' WriterBy Adam BernsteinCourtesy of the Washington PostOctober 27, 2005

Michael Kilian, 66, a journalist, author and
cartoon-strip writer drawn to satire and intrigue who nearly engineered
a divorce between Detective Dick Tracy and Tess Trueheart, died October
26, 2005, at Inova Fairfax Hospital. He had liver failure.

Long based in Washington for the Chicago Tribune,
Mr. Kilian wrote about military and political affairs as well as the arts
and society scene from the District and New York. He also co-wrote guidebooks
to political power, including "Who Runs Washington?" (1982), and more than
a dozen thrillers set in the Cold and Civil wars.Dick Tracy, a square-jawed crime stopper created
by Chester Gould in 1931, fell to successors after Gould's retirement in
1977.

Starting in 1993, Mr. Kilian teamed with illustrator
Dick Locher, a Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist at the Tribune,
and brought to the strip topical plotlines involving hate crimes, terrorists
and child abductions. They created rogues named Pixel and Cellphone for
a storyline about DVD piracy.

In February 1994, a week before Valentine's
Day, they aroused great publicity by having Tess Trueheart serve Tracy
with divorce papers. The workaholic Tracy was rarely at home, and when
he arrived, he was met with a cold dinner and an increasingly colder wife.

"It was cumulative with her," Mr. Kilian said
in 1994. "And whereas her attitude now would not have been acceptable in
the '40s, '50s or early '60s . . . you should not, as the wife or husband
of someone like this, just sit back and take it."

In fairness to Tracy, Trueheart might have
anticipated her problems. After all, Mr. Kilian pointed out, they dated
for 18 years before he agreed to marry. But in the end, they reconciled
for their children and took a vacation that renewed their flame.

At its peak, which lasted through the 1950s,
the strip ran in more than 500 newspapers. Tribune Media Services now syndicates
it to about 50 newspapers.

Michael David Kilian was born July 16, 1939,
in Toledo and raised in Chicago and Westchester County, New York. His father
produced radio serials, including "Terry and the Pirates."

After Army service and some journalism experience,
Mr. Kilian joined the Tribune in 1966 and, within a few years, became a
member of the editorial board and a columnist. A subject he revisited was
the struggle for peace in Northern Ireland and his scorn for the Irish
Republican Army.

In columns, he was also known for a satirical
format involving mock transcripts of congressional testimony. He once took
the Reagan administration bromide about relaxing air-quality standards
to "a reasoned pace" and applied it to matters of race relations, highway
safety measures and arms control.

In a lampoon of the media, he presented the
War of 1812 as if it had been covered by Dan Rather. The report begins:
"The War of 1812, already growing increasingly popular as it drags on into
the War of 1813 and the War of 1814, took a new and ugly twist today with
reports that British warships are sailing up Chesapeake Bay and are about
to attack Philadelphia."

Similarly, on the arts beat, he was skilled
with the double meaning and wry observation.

In 2002, for an exhibit featuring photographs
of a Tuscan countess at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, he began his article
this way: "Let us now take up the awesomely trivial but frightfully compelling
question: Who's the vainest woman who ever lived?"The number of contenders would seem to be
as myriad as the stars, but there is an answer.

"Marie Antoinette? Not really. Frivolous, yes.
Self-indulgent, yes. Preferred cake to bread, yes. But no more vain than
your average spoiled royal. Besides, as contemporary depictions of the
French queen amply attest, she was no tomato (though she definitely was
sliced)."

His novels were zippy thrillers meant mostly
to entertain. They included "The Valkyrie Project" (1981) and "Northern
Exposure" (1983) as well as a historical novel he regarded as a favorite,
"Major Washington" (1998), about the future first president.

He wrote a Civil War mystery series featuring
Pinkerton agent Harrison Raines and several Jazz Age mysteries with bon
vivant Bedford Green. Under the name Rex Dancer, Mr. Kilian wrote suspense
books starring a fashion photographer.

Fond of white slacks, blue blazers and ascots,
Mr. Kilian frequently looked as if he had just stepped off the presidential
yacht in 1930. The McLean resident also was a glider plane pilot and had
written a humor book about flight with Locher.

Survivors include his wife of 35 years, Pamela
Reeves Kilian of McLean; two sons, Eric Kilian of Falls Church and Colin
Kilian of Brooklyn, New York; his stepmother, Sara Kilian of Atlanta; and
a brother.
Posted: 29 October 2005